Beautifully Broken
by eszath
Summary: In a world of which we exist simply because we can't not exist, vanity would be the strongest quality to have. Self-loathing could kill even the most indestructable creature.     Rosalie Hale.    Set during Eclipse  Kind of... ; Rated T to be safe.


His lips moved against hers passionately, but she couldn't get lost in the kiss. She found herself thinking about Bella, the pathetic human with which her brother had fallen so desperately in love with. Before she knew it, she had found herself pulling away from her husband and sighing.

"What's wrong, Rose?" He asked, honestly concerned.

"It's nothing."

"What are you thinking about?"

She sighed, this time in defeat. He knew something was wrong, and eventually she would break down and tell him. She always did. He was genuinely worried, and she hated to see him that way.

After a moment, she spoke, the name rolling off her tongue like a curse. "Bella."

His jaw instinctively clenched when he heard her name. Bella. His little sister, in every way that mattered. But he knew that Rosalie never liked her. Why, he couldn't really understand. He never doubted that she had her reasons, but sometimes he wished she'd just give the poor girl a chance.

When he saw the distress on his wife's face, he kissed her again and then pulled back, his topaz eyes probing.

She didn't answer; she didn't want to. So he took a deep breath and spoke softly, asking her the question she didn't really want to answer.

"Why do you hate her so much, Rose?"

There was no answer to that question, really. She just did. Every fiber of her being told her that this pathetic human was worthless. After all, she had only ever brought pain and grief upon this family. But her husband knew that there was something deeper then that. Something was keeping her from accepting Bella, and it was really starting to get on his nerves.

"Please," he begged, squeezing her hand gently. "Why?"

"She's a human."

The response was simple, but her tone was cold. There was more behind these words that her poor mate could not decipher. Had Jasper been here, he would have run off immediately and asked what she was feeling. But, he wasn't, and so had to ask.

"So?"

"So she's weak. Frail. Pathetic. Unworthy of Edward's love. She'll ruin everything. She already has a perfect life. A family. She has her humanity and she's willing to give it up so easily. What kind of fool would be that eager to end her life?"

The grief nearly overwhelmed her as she spoke those words. Everything she was feeling had been revealed to her husband in those few simple sentences. Naked. She felt utterly and entirely naked; stripped of any privacy she had.

"A fool in love," he responded, pulling her against his chest. She tried to resist, but as she felt his strong arms wrap around her, she sighed and allowed him to comfort her.

"How could she ever feel for him as he does for her? She is just a human."

"You say that like humans are the dumbest creatures on earth, Rose," he paused when she looked at him, incredulous. "You do think that, don't you? I'm sorry, but you're wrong. We were all humans once. Our minds and emotions haven't changed. The only reason we're even smarter than them is because we've been around for longer and have seen more."

She laughed darkly, rolling her eyes. "Sometimes you're so oblivious, Emmett. She hasn't been through enough to really, truly love him as Edward does her. Some day, she'll find someone else and she'll decide that Edward is a thing of the past. She'll have given up her chance at a normal life to become a monster. A blood thirsty, heartless monster."

"Stop it," her mate growled, angry now. "Bella could never be heartless. She has the biggest heart out of all of us. And she does love Edward; loves him with her very being. I might not be the brightest, Rose, but you're the only one in this house oblivious to that fact."

Rosalie seethed. "Maybe that's true, Emmett. But maybe I'm the only one here who can truly appreciate what she's willing to give up."

"What do you mean?" Emmett had thought that Rosalie had everything she had ever wanted. He had certainly tried to make it that way. For some reason, this existence had always seemed harder on her than it was on anyone else. Maybe now she would finally explain why.

Her words were clipped; spoken between clenched teeth. "I mean that she is giving up a life of happiness for a life of eternal gloom. She's giving up having a family, growing old with the person she loves... she's giving up living. How can anyone else be okay with that? Am I the only one who really grieves for that which I can never have? Am I the only one so pathetic as to feel jealous of a human simply because her heart can beat while mine cannot?"

For a minute, she found herself close to tears. Emmett noticed this and pulled her close, petting her hair soothingly.

"No," he admitted after a moment of silence. "We all miss it. But we've learned to deal, Rose. There are things that we gave up, true, but we've gained so much more. I wouldn't have even met you, let alone loved you if it weren't for the fact that we're like this. Don't make everything so... sad. I know how much you wanted those things, baby, I really do. But you can't have them. And holding a grudge against Bella, your soon-to-be sister-in-law, is never going to help. The family loves her... I love her. I know you could, too, if you really wanted to."

Her sniffling stopped and she smiled up at him, her composure returning. "I highly doubt I'll ever love her. But maybe if I talked to her, she'd understand..." Rosalie trailed off, thinking silently to herself.

"I knew you'd come around," Emmett mumbled, pulling her tight against him in an unescapable embrace.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to try, Emmett. That doesn't mean anything other than that I'm just simply tired of Edward's temper tantrums when I don't show Bella the 'utmost respect, like she deserves'."

He smirked. Edward really had sounded stupid that night. And the way Rosalie said it... she was being difficult to hide her wounded ego. Stubborn, just like always. No matter what, she would never admit to being wrong. And that was what he absolutely loved about her. He pulled her chin up gently and paused just before kissing her to whisper against her lips.

"That's all I ask, Rose. That's all I ask."


End file.
